The Origins of the Sushi Pack
by Wolf-Pearl378
Summary: A group of teens find out that something wrong is occurring during their visit at a sushi restaurant for a friend's birthday. More shenanigans happen, and they meet the Sushi Pack and with the help of the teens, they solve the clues to stop the Legion of Low Tide for good.
1. Chapter 1: Alex the Birthday Boy

After school on the day of September 15th 2007, it's Alex's fifteenth birthday and to celebrate this special occasion, Nyx has made a reservation for a sushi restaurant. Mainly due to sushi being one of Alex's favorite foods, so she found the website of a local sushi restaurant, used the living room landline phone to call the restaurant to make a reservation for her, Alex, and four of her other friends.

Thankfully for Nyx, the restaurant's not very far from the Wharf City High School, being three or so blocks away. Throughout the whole walk, Ryan began to start worrying that the restaurant would be the same one he went into back when he had his former job of being a pizza deliverer for Domino's. "Jeez dude, it's just a restaurant, that's all." Paige growled, always annoyed with everything and everyone around her. Ryan wanted to scold and argue with her for being 'insensitive' but decided not to.

After a short while, the gang finally reached the sushi place. "Yay! I love sushi sooo much!" Aimee, a scene girl cheered with joy and excitement. Another friend of hers, Melissa agreed with her. Meanwhile with Ryan, he began to experience traumatic memories staring at the sushi restaurant's sign showing its name, Fujiyama Sushi. He began to shake or feel like he's shaking, and began to have vivid flashbacks showing his deceased co-workers. Nyx snapped him back in to reality and reassured him that it's probably not the restaurant.

The teen friends walked into the restaurant with a weird, yellow eel-like person being the host of this restaurant. "Hey punk dude." Paige said to him and the eel replied to her, almost mocking her, "Hey emo chick.", Paige immediately flipped him off, but Nyx scolded her for doing so, but went to the eel and told him that she made a reservation. "Oh, you're the one who made a birthday reservation?" the eel asked, Nyx confirmed that is the case; the eel looked at the teens and asked which of them was the birthday person, Alex raised his hand. "Well happy birthday, dude," the eel said again, "Anyways, take the booth near the calico cat statue. Your server will be with you.".

The teens looked for the calico cat, Paige spotted a white cat with orange and black spots with one of its paws waving forwards and backwards, "Hey, I think I found the statue that eel dude talked about guys." she said, pointing at the statue. Alex looked at what Paige pointed at and told her, "Hey, that's pretty good. Nice job, buddy.", she smiled at him while blushing. The gang sat down; Paige, Nyx, and Aimee on one side of the booth, and Melissa, Alex, and Ryan sat on the opposite side. The wait for their server was a long and awkward one, lasting around ten minutes. While they waited, Paige and Aimee talked about anime-related things, Nyx texted her mom and dad about her whereabouts, Alex and Melissa were chatting and then she gave him a gift for his birthday. While for Ryan, he tried to fight off any negative memories that popped into his mind.

The ten minutes has passed and another odd fellow around ten up to fourteen feet tall and looked like a sumo wrestler comes to the table with a notepad and pen, he said profusely, "Sorry for the wait! Oh, you know how I am with remembering names, heh heh.", Aimee's eyes shined with excitement and she shouted, "Hey Toro! Long time no see!", Toro turned to her direction and he smiled, claiming to recognize her face as she and her family, the Castillos have been the one of the restaurant's most loyal customers since either 2001 or 2002. "What would you all like?" Toro asked the teens, Paige wanted sashimi salad but with extra wasabi because and to quote her, "I crave death." concerning the poor server, Nyx wanted some tempura with three rolls and miso soup, and a cup of green tea, Aimee wanted a unadon, miso soup, and a soda aka "the usual" as Aimee calls this meal, Melissa ordered gyoza, four sushi pieces, and lemonade. Meanwhile for the boys, Alex, the birthday boy wanted a special meal for the occasion including some mochi ice cream as a birthday cake of sort, but Ryan didn't order anything, but gave his gift to Alex for the birthday boy.

As Toro left the table, he looked at Ryan as if he recognized his face from somewhere but couldn't point his finger on where he last saw him… Ryan too, made a look at him, but turned away immediately afterwards. He knew that something wasn't right with the restaurant, he was an eyewitness to the crimes he and his buddies committed after all.

Regardless, the gang ate their food and gave Alex their birthday gifts, mainly PS2 games and a mystery novel. Alex loved all of the gifts his friends gave him to the point of crying and hugging them.

When they were finished and paid via putting money on the table, the gang left the restaurant to return back to their homes.


	2. Chapter 2: The Creatures in the Woods

During lunch at school on Monday, Aimee came to her friend circle's table with a very gleeful look on her face. "You look happy today, as always," Nyx greeted her, "What's the umm… scoop?". Aimee sat down and announced to her beloved friends, "I found something like, super-duper cool last night!" it caught Paige's attention instantly and asked her, "Oooh, like how cool? Super duper duper cool?", "Oh, super duper duper hella cool!" Aimee replied, showing a Polaroid photo of some strange human-like entities wandering around a forest. "What's happening here?" said Ryan, who too was quite interested in the photo. Aimee explained, "So, me, my big sis Julia, and my little bro Pablo walked down to the woods like we do every weekend, so when me and Pablo walked near a row of trees, Pablo grabbed me by the arm and yelled, 'What are those things?!' I grabbed my camera and took this cool picture! It's totally gonna get me an A in photography class next period!" Nyx smiled at her and wished her the best of luck for the rest of the day.

The school day has finished for now, Alex asked Aimee about the woods she and her siblings went to, and that got her to invite her friends to go for a walk at those woods this evening. Ryan was the only one who didn't want to go due to having a younger sibling and a new job to take care of. Aimee and company understood what he needed to do. After having a chat about the walk, the teens returned to their homes until 6:30 or so, which was a time Paige, Nyx, and Melissa all agreed on, but Alex wasn't too sure of that time due to his "homework pile" he needed to take care of and went home immediately, and which this made the girls go home too, one by one, all saying goodbye to each other and Alex.

An hour and a half passed, Aimee and Paige have made it to the woods Aimee spoke. Meaning that all they have to do now is wait for Nyx, Melissa, and Alex. "Hey Mee, what's takin' them so long?" Paige asked Aimee, she shrugged as an answer to Paige's question and as so, she texted them to see what's going on; it turns out that they're on their way but there's a bit of a traffic jam going on. A short while later, Nyx was the first, she told them, "Hey, sorry I was late friends. My mom argued with me about how I might get lost in those woods, then I'll turn feral, and never return to civilization." Paige and Aimee's eyes grew wide and made faces that said, "Excuse me, what the fuck?".

Finally, Alex and Melissa were here too. "Well, everyone's here now," Paige said, "Let's go to the Woods of the Unknown then.". Since Aimee knew where she found the odd fellows, she's the one who will lead them to their destination. Thankfully, they had flashlights and other stuff needed for this adventure. Nyx advised that everyone stay together in case that they do find the weird things Aimee saw on Sunday night.

While traversing the woods, it began to remind Melissa of her childhood in the countryside, looking at the trees and the stars in the night sky. However, that was years ago and deep in the past. Regardless, this little place gives her happy and nostalgic memories. After lingering through her memories, they were interrupted by Aimee's shouting. The teens went near the creatures slowly, curious of them. The creatures too, were curious about the teens but were too shy to come closer. "Who are you?" the blue octopus spoke, Nyx introduced herself and her buddies to the octopus. "Oh, how interesting." a purple creature said, and revealed her name to be Maguro. Aimee asked the group eagerly, "Do you fellas know someone named Toro?", the creatures looked angry when she mentioned his name, the blue octopus, whose name happened to be Tako told her sternly, "He's part of the Legion of Low Tide. Stay away from him and the other members.". Aimee, confused asked Tako about who they are and went on about how the Legion of Low Tide have robbed and murdered innocent lives. The murdering innocent lives thing sounded familiar and like something Ryan would say.

After spending some quality time with the creatures aka the "Sushi Pack", the teens went back home via text messages to their parents or older siblings, and after their rides back to their homes, they prepared themselves to go get some sleep for school tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3: Almost Joining the Dark Side

The alarm went off, Aimee sluggishly moved her arm and hand near the alarm and slammed her fist onto the snooze button, not wanting to wake up. She just wanted more sleep. Unfortunately, her older sister, Julia ratted her sister out, making Aimee say in a frustrated voice, "Jesus Christ Julia! I'm coming, I'm coming!". She went downstairs for breakfast before she gets to school. In the dining room are her older sister, Pablo, her little brother, and their mother. "Hi guys." Aimee said to them. Her mother, Mrs. Castillo greeted her daughter, Aimee merely just nodded her head.

The rest of the breakfast eating was in complete silence. Well that is until Aimee's father came in with a sheet of paper in his left hand. "Honey," he said in a serious but really puzzled tone, "I got this letter from the Fujiyama Sushi place and they want Aimee to come over there by seven thirty or so.". Aimee got very thrilled with the news, she got up, rushed to her father, snatched the letter, and started squealing. "Calm down Aimee." Aimee's father told his youngest daughter, she did and the two went to the living room to discuss about the letter. Aimee asked him, "Should I still go to school?", her father requested that she does go to school after her visit at that restaurant. Aimee and her father had a ten minute conversation about what to do and stuff. After the conversation, Aimee went up to her room to get dressed for the day.

After she got dressed, Aimee rushed down the stairs, grabbed her backpack, and headed to the driveway with her father behind her. Aimee waited for her father to turn on the car and when he did, she got in quickly. The drive to the sushi restaurant was an exciting and one that she enjoyed a lot. Aimee felt so much happiness she wouldn't stop singing to her Top 10 favorite songs. Stuff like has always made Mr. Castillo happy; if any of his kids are happy, then he's happy.

When Mr. Castillo got to Fujiyama Sushi, he went to the parking lot and parked his car. Aimee grabbed her backpack, wrapped it around her shoulders, and got out of the car to go inside the restaurant, with the letter in hand. The eel host greeted her, and Aimee approached him with the letter. He grew curious about the note, and grabbed it from her and asked, "Are you Aimee Castillo?", Aimee nodded her head, to which the eel demanded evidence. So she gave him her high school campus card. He analyzed the card for a few seconds and approved. "Yep, you're her, follow me." the eel remarked, Aimee went along with what's told to her and followed the eel. The two went inside a kitchen, but it's not like the kitchen in a house, looking more professional and less "American", having a Japanese theme with it. Aimee took notice at the two chefs, one was a pufferfish wearing desert camouflage hoodie and some chef attire and the other is supposedly an urchin who too dressed up like a chef. "Fugu, Uni," the eel spoke to them, "This is Aimee. She will be one of us, as a member of our legion.". Both looked in disbelief. "Are you KIDDING me, Unagi?!" Fugu shouted at the eel, "We're not hiring at the moment, and we never will!". Unagi argued that the letter to Aimee was a request the boss made him do due to again, Aimee's family was loyal to the restaurant for years and this is the girl's "reward" for said loyalty. Uni, the other chef said, "Yeah that kinda makes sense.".

A short conversation between Unagi and the two chefs goes on; Aimee got bored, so she began to look for some paper, but couldn't find any. Thankfully, there's some paper in her backpack, she searched through her notebooks and two binders for notebook paper and a pencil or really any writing tool, so she decided to use her favorite blue pen, her note taking pen. She wrote down:

Sorry for running off, but I'm bored and I want to meet up with Toro again. Is that okay with you with you guys?

-Aimee

She placed the sheet of paper on a kitchen countertop, and went off to go find Toro; she walked around the restaurant dining area, she wanted to call out his name, but didn't want to disturb any of the people who were eating. Then, she bumped into someone. "I'm so sorry! Did you drop anything?" she apologized to a green-skinned girl with a minty scent, who too is a server. "No, no it's fine," the green girl explained, "You didn't do anything wrong at all. Now, is there something you need, ma'am?". Aimee asked her about where Toro is at. The server shifted her eyes around and then she grabbed Aimee's shirt sleeve and asked, "Hey, can we talk about somewhere no one can hear us, okay?", Aimee shrugged nonchalantly. The girl lead Aimee to an employee's only area. "So, who is this about again?" The girl asked her. Aimee replied with, "It's about Toro. Where is he?". The girl went closer to Aimee and told her that's he in the bathroom at the moment. Aimee nodded her head, thanked the girl, and left.

When Aimee returned to the kitchen, Unagi made a miffed look, staring at Aimee. "I… I can explain!" Aimee spoke out, almost panicking. Unagi however, didn't say a single word and pointed at a stool, prompting Aimee to sit down. She didn't even bother questioning the eel or say a single word, she just went and sat there.

What felt like an hour later, Toro came in to the kitchen to check on some customer's requests to make sure he isn't screwing anything up. "Hey. Pssst, Toro, over here!" Unagi called out. Toro approached him, and asked about what he wants from him. Unagi told him, "Your girlfriend wants to… Oh I dunno talk to you or something.". "What girlfriend? I'm single Unagi!" said Toro, but Unagi pointed at Aimee, who was on her laptop, playing games on a website called Neopets. Toro went up to Aimee and greeted her. Aimee, shocked, closed her laptop and blushed. "Oh," Aimee muttered out, "Hey.".

The two shortly after, had a friendly conversation about random things that came in mind before being interrupted by the green girl, who happens to be named Mochi. She announces something in the line of a meeting, everyone in the kitchen stopped what they were doing and went to an area written as "forbidden", Aimee didn't know what to do, she was scared, what's going on? She followed them regardless, feeling safer if she went along with them.

Down there was like a vast, dark cave with literally nothing there except for around seven chairs and a table. The members sat down on their chairs, with Aimee standing up and next to Unagi. A mysterious catfish, samurai entity revealed himself, when she saw him, Aimee felt a sense of dread and dominance tingle down her spine. The samurai catfish greeted his "minions" and Aimee. "Now, my minions, you may or may not have seen a little girl with us today," said the samurai, "Yes, I have written a letter to her family to celebrate their sixth anniversary of visiting my restaurant! So, I chose the middle child via a thread of emails with her father.". Aimee didn't know if she should feel impressed or feel like she's being stalked.

Hours and hours later, the meeting has ended and Aimee got out of the restaurant. Her friends managed to spot her. "Hey, Aimee," Nyx said to Amy, "Where were you today?", Aimee tried to explain, but knew it would make zero sense if she did, so she claimed that she has to take care of a family situation, but the gang made faces at her. "Dude, you don't need to lie," Paige reminded her friend, "Just tell us the truth and no one gets hurt.". Aimee sighed deeply, and blurted out the truth, loudly. Very loudly. Then, she said quietly, "I'm sorry.". Ryan, who at first thought she was going to betray him, understood what she did, and suggested that she'll be a spy for him and his friend group, reassuring her.

This made her feel better about missing an entire school day. She's so glad to have friends like Nyx, Paige, Ryan, and the others.


	4. Chapter 4: Domino's Massacre Memorial

At lunch today, the teens met up together at the table they would usually sit in. Ryan, has after school plans. He told them, "Meet me at Domino's. I have something important there for you.". Nyx, confused she asked him, "Which Domino's? There's like, five of them or something like that.". Ryan informed her and his other friends that it's the Dominos next door to a Chevron gas station. "Wait, at that gas station?!" Melissa shouted, "It has been closed for months!". Ryan shook his head, "Yep, that Domino's.". Alex and Paige accidentally held each other's hands out of concern of something, and when they noticed, they immediately let go, looking away from each other. This got Aimee's interest, staring at both of them.

The whole time at lunch was a quiet, awkward one. Then, the bell for the next period rang, students went to their fifth period classes.

* * *

After school, Ryan returned to his former work place, the Domino's next door to the Chevron gas station. He began to feel shivers down his spine as he looked at the now-abandoned pizza place. While he doesn't believe in ghosts, or anything relating to the paranormal and/or supernatural, he thought he saw a former coworker or two wandering around the pizza place. He texted all of his group members to come at Domino's in Riverstone Road, the street that Domino's is at. Around seven minutes later, Alex and Aimee were the first to arrive. Another seven minutes passed, and everyone else came. "Hey, sorry that we're late, Ryan," said Paige, "Traffic is hell, well, at least for Melissa and her truck.". However, it didn't upset Ryan in the slightest, as long as they're here and apologized for their tardiness, everything's swell. Now, Ryan began to take his friends to another side of the restaurant, this side of the restaurant had mural art of various people on them, with names, and birth and death dates. "What's going there?" Alex asked Ryan.

Then, Ryan took a deep breath, approached the wall and told his group, "Some of you may or not know about this, but I used to work at this Domino's, delivering pizzas and other food stuff for around three and a half months. Then one day in the first week of August, I drove towards the Fujiyama Sushi restaurant, I mean, the restaurant's address was written as one of the destinations to deliver pizzas. I went in, it was empty and dimly lit, probably around closing time. Anyhoo, I tried to look for the person who wanted freaking nine pizzas and three wing baskets. I noticed the kitchen has been left unattended, and begins the stupidest thing I've ever done, I left the pizza and wings on the bar table and went into the kitchen and found a door, that door has a sign said, "Forbidden to Non-Employees Only. Please get out before bad things will happen to you!". Did I ignore that sign? Of course I did! I pushed the doors open, and found the most horrendous things I've ever seen with my own two eyes. There was a cave and creatures. Very strange creatures. A very large one took a glance at me, and went after me. I ran as fast as I could; I got out of the restaurant and into and drove back to Domino's.", Paige was the only one who looked really interested at this point of Ryan's story, but allowed him to continue, "When I finally came back to Domino's, the cashier, Paul McCoy asked about what happened during my drive to Gulliver street, I explained to him what I have seen, but he laughed, thinking I made it all up. I guessed he was right, well at first, until that large behemoth brought friends with him!".

Aimee began to think about something when she heard the words, "large behemoth" and "friends with him"; is Ryan talking about Toro? Ryan continued his story, "He and his friends then began attacking me, and my coworkers for no reason at all. We've tried to defend ourselves with the stuff we have, but to no avail. My other co-worker, Milo found an axe, one his father uses on his orchard farm. He tried to use it but it got him killed, alongside Paul, Hugo, and Kyle. I survived because I ran out of the Domino's and hopped inside a dumpster and closed the lid. It felt like hours when I was in that dumpster. Just me, the darkness, the big bags of trash, and the rancid, garbage smell. I can still remember the dumpster's stink smell. Aaaand that's my story!" Ryan concluded his story in a rather weird, but effective way. "Wait, hold the phone, they've killed people?!" Aimee shouted in disbelief and horror, her face expressed both. "I'm sorry Aimee but," Ryan began to tell her bluntly, "They did. If I got the key to this Domino's, I would show you the surveillance camera footage as evidence.". Aimee's eyes began to tear up, those were people who she trusted and loved for years. How did she not know about any of this? Nyx comforted her by placing a hand on her shoulder and said that she should try and confront one of the Low Tide members about it. Which gave Aimee an idea.

* * *

At a twilight before dusk, Aimee found Toro taking the trash out. "Excuse me, Toro. We need to talk." Aimee said, sounding unusually frank. Toro turned around, shocked, he asked her, "Is… there something you want to talk about? Perhaps a nice walk around the park while we chat?". Out of the blue, Aimee questioned him with a cold, emotionless voice, "Did you kill them?". Toro jolted, looking frightened and "played dumb" about who he killed. "Those Domino's workers. Did you kill them?" Aimee repeated her question. Toro dropped his head and confessed that he did. Aimee made a face of despair and muttered quietly, "Why?". He backed away, looking ashamed of his actions. "I know what it looks like," Toro spoke aloud, "Yes, I did kill them. Well, one of them. Shortly after, I looked at my hands, holding the innocent life I took away. I felt really horrible about what I did, but I pulled on a facade of triumph and joy, but deep down I feel nothing but disgust. So, I took painting lessons and created the Domino's Massacre Memorial at that place.".

At that instant, Aimee's face went from sheer horror to pure hatred and rage, she started to scream, "I hate you! I hate you!" and tears came out of her eyes again. Much to her surprise, Toro showed little to no reaction, he understood her emotions, "I get it, you hate me. I know and understand your pain.". Aimee wanted to kill him now, so she pounced on him, blinded by her anger. When she grabbed him by the neck area, but she instantly let go; she didn't want to kill him, she couldn't do it. She fell down to the ground, crying. Toro lifted her up, essentially hugging her, and began to figure out how to take her back home.


	5. Chapter 5: The Warning Signal

One weekend, Nyx decided to go visit the woods to perform a dark spell or two. She went up to her mother, who is doing work on her laptop and asked, "Hey, are you cool with me going somewhere on my own?". Her mother, Mrs. Murasaki somewhat approved, "Janet (Nyx's real name), if you plan on going to some place with your buddies or by yourself. Just take your phone with you, okay?". Nyx nodded her head, went to her room to get her phone, went downstairs, and left her house.

When she got there, she noticed the strange creatures she encountered one Monday night come close to her. She suddenly realized they were the Sushi Pack, making her face palm. "Hey guys, do you want a chat?" She asked them, to which a majority of them approved of. She started the conversation with a question, "Hey, so how are you going to defeat those Legion fellows?". Tako, already having a plan announced, "You know how they rob people, right? Now, we have to send a spy down to their headquarters, listen to their plans, and come back to us.". This instantly made Nyx think of Aimee, she's already in good terms with one of the members, and made her bring Aimee up, using that as an excuse to get the conversation going faster. "Oh, Aimee, who's that?" a pink crab named Kani asked, interested in her already. Nyx explained to the Pack who Aimee is, "You see, Aimee is a friend of mine. Not necessarily close but friends nonetheless. When she was around ten or eleven, she visited a restaurant called Fujiyama Sushi, her family went to the restaurant because umm… something about I guess her mother's birthday?". The Sushi Pack were very interested in an explanation like that, but worried that she would turn her back on them.

The discussion lasted for an hour and a half, her mother began to send a text message to Nyx, something in the lines of, "It has been an hour since you've gone! Where are you?!", Nyx texted her back and promised to be home in five, up to ten minutes. As a result, Nyx had to save the plan ideas for tomorrow or whenever she has the time to continue planning. She said goodbye and texted one of her closer friends, Thanatos to drive her back home.

Back at school on a Tuesday, the gang has noticed that Aimee began to distance herself from the group, sitting on a table known as the "Loner's Table" where some of the lonelier students would sit. Paige went to the table to have a conversation with her. "Hi Paige." Aimee whispered, Paige grew shocked of this change and asked her, "Are you okay, buddy? You're normally so chirpy and bubbly, what happened to you man?". Aimee went closer to Paige and told her, "I… I can't stay with you and the rest at the moment because uhh… umm… I'm not allowed to.". Paige began to feel horrified, did her parents punish her for something she did or what? All she could do is understand, nod her head, and left the table. Alex questioned about what's going on with Aimee and Paige informed him that she's not allowed to hang out with them anymore for some reason. The other group members too felt bewildered and spooked. The rest of lunchtime was a cold, awkward silence.

After school, Aimee went to the Fujiyama Sushi restaurant for a meeting she was required to go to. She was greeted by Mochi and Uni who escorted her to the area exclusive to employees, or in this case, members of the Legion of Low Tide. However, instead of feeling excited like she felt when she came to the first few meetings; she felt a mixture of rage, melancholy, and disgust; probably due to the story Ryan told her and Toro's murder confession although he felt just as horrible about it as she was.

There was the meeting area. Aimee sat with Toro, Mochi, and Unagi. Meanwhile, Fugu and Uni sat on another side of the table. Now, they're waiting for the Titanium Chef to come in, and now he has came to the meeting area, despite his catfish-like appearance, he's still human regarding his height. "Greetings my friends." the Titanium Chef announced sounding very much like a TV host, "We shall pick up from the meeting we had last week, which was about the jewelry shop robbery.". While the members listened sharply to their boss's words, Aimee looked around her, she was listening too but not fully; Aimee didn't care anymore. At this point, why even bother?

When the meeting finished, the Low Tide and Aimee headed towards a more casual area, almost looking like a dorm room. Unagi started a conversation with the following, "Remember when we killed those brats at that Domino's? Months ago, but man did it feel good, and it's a win-win when there were no eyewitnesses! Ha ha!". However, Aimee told him, "Uhh… Hate to break your spirit but I know a survivor, and his name's Ryan. Ryan Smith.". Unagi swiftly turned to look at her, "There was a _survivor_?! I don't believe you in the slightest!". Toro was too scared to say anything, but agreed with Aimee. There was an argument between her and Unagi regarding Ryan, which only got worse when Aimee yelled in the top of her lungs, "You know what? I'm leaving! I know what you all have done, you murdered innocent people! They weren't brats, those were innocent people trying to live their lives! You all _betrayed_ me by hiding secrets from me! Good. BYE.". Aimee stormed out of the dorm to go back home running, the Titanium Chef attempted to stop her, but to no avail.

She returned back home with a cold, unforgiving scowl on her face. Mr. and Mrs. Castillo looked shocked to see their youngest daughter come home steamed and slammed the front door behind her. "Are you okay, sweetie?" Mr. Castillo asked his daughter, but she didn't response.

Aimee went up to her room, slammed the door behind her, and started to scream in the top of her lungs. Her older sister, Julia rushed to Aimee's room to see what the heck's going on. Aimee loudly demanded her sister to leave, but Julia stayed in her room regardless. Aimee is still her little sister. Shortly after, Aimee began to cry, rushed to Julia, and hugged her tightly. "It's okay little sis," Julia spoke in a comforting voice, "Now, tell me whatever is wrong. Do I need to kill somebody?". Aimee began to describe how the people who work at her family's favorite restaurant really were; evil sadists who murder people with little to no reasoning behind their actions. After she did that, Julia felt shocked and disturbed to hear all of that coming out of her little sister's mouth. She didn't know what to do, let alone question what reality is anymore. Then, Julia rushed down to the dinning room to confirm this with her parents. Her parents were in denial of the woeful news; Mr. Castillo just a made a look, no movement, no nothing and as for Mrs. Castillo, she began to cry. It was complete and total chaos, the youngest child and only son, Pablo went down from his room to see the shit show that was happening with his family. However, he instantly went back to his room to play more Gameboy Advance games because it was too chaotic for him to handle.

After the Castillo family shit show has ended, everyone decided to have a movie and pizza night and try to forget that it all happened. The movie they watched was a Disney movie. It was very relaxing and worth a memory or two.

Weeks have passed, and Aimee began to feel like she's being stalked. Wherever she went, she feels like someone's right behind her. She talked about this with her buddies, and they knew what to do; they will go to Alex's family computer (which has software that can create posters and flyers) and printed as many flyers warning their city about the Legion of Low Tide as they could and spread them around just about anywhere. So, the teens scattered around throughout the part of the city they live in. A flyer here, a flyer there, they were all over the place. It only took them at least three days for the flyers to gain attention; rumors began to spread like wildfire, Fujiyama Sushi began to receive bad reviews, and people began to go to the woods to look for the Sushi Pack, overwhelming the Sushi Pack in the process. All of the teens knew that eventually someone would pay attention to their message but didn't expect it blow up like that. It just wasn't what was expected but they were thankful to the many people who took notice of their message. Ryan and Aimee both felt relief, but knew this was indeed far from over.


	6. Chapter 6: Tonight's Plan

With the popularity the Sushi Pack they have been receiving, they loved the respect and attention they've earned, but it was quite overwhelming for them and they wanted a break from it.

So, they fled to Alex's house to escape from the paparazzi. Alex allowed them in to give them the break they deserved.

"Oh thank you, my boy!" Tako shouted as he hugged Alex and the other pack members hugged him too. Alex's friends, Paige, Nyx, Aimee, Melissa, and Ryan are hanging out with Alex since it's a Saturday, there is nothing better for them to do really. "Oh wow, it's the Sushi Dudes." Nyx said, with a voice hinting some surprise. "It's Sushi PACK, not Sushi Dudes." Kani corrected her, but Nyx still showed some indifference. Aimee left Alex's house with a SNERF gun in hand, heading outside to the backyard. "Where is she going with that?" Paige asked Alex, who shrugged.

Meanwhile, Nyx and Ryan went to the kitchen with windows showing the backyard. Aimee was jumping from one brick wall to the other shooting a burlap sack of something with the SNERF gun. "Holy shit, look at her go." Nyx whispered, Ryan nodded, equally as shocked as her. Then, they started to cheer for her, causing everyone else to come to the kitchen due to the commotion they were making. "Yo, my dudes what is going on?!" Ikura shouted, Ryan told him what he had seen, Ikura was indeed impressed. Aimee began to stop for a moment, collected the bullets, placed them back into the gun, and sat down on a swing under the backyard porch. Melissa rushed outside to congratulate Aimee on her gun and parkour skills, Aimee said, "Ahh, it's nothing really. I gotta continue practicing just in case those Low Tide bastards try to do anything on me, you, or anyone else. I hope they like a good ass-whooping.".

After sitting down for some time and drinking some water and peach-mango juice, she resumed her training, jumping from the same two walls while shooting the exact same burlap sack. This lasted for at least three more times until she felt like she knew what to do and what she was doing. "Wish me luck guys," Aimee said to everyone, "I will fight the Legion of Low Tide and get THEM.".

Suddenly, she heard her cell phone ringing, the number was completely unfamiliar to her, but she picked up anyways. "Hello?" Aimee asked the person calling her. "Well, well, well, we meet again Aimee." The caller said, it came to the realization that the person calling was Unagi!

Aimee asked another question with a snarl in her voice, "What the hell do you want from me? If it's about me joining your stupid villain group again, no thank you.". Unagi proceeded to reveal to Aimee that he and the rest of Low Tide have kidnapped Aimee's parents to make her pay for turning her back on them and rightfully leaving the group and that they're still continuing to rob the Jewelers of the South Pacific jewelry store. Then, Unagi also told that Aimee that he has planned to get her married to Toro at the same night as the robbery and in mid-sentence, Aimee instantly hung up, having no desire let alone interest of marriage in the future.

"Guys," Aimee said to her friends and the Sushi Pack, "we shall meet at the Jewelers of the South Pacific around maybe eight or nine. My friends and I shall use Melissa and her trusty truck to get there while the Sushi Pack follow us with their weird ship thing. Does that sound like a plan?". However, Paige and Nyx had other plans; it's similar to Aimee's but in reverse, the Sushi Pack go to the Jewelers while the teens follow them. That plan idea didn't really stick either. A while later, they finally had a plan they believe would work:

They'll get or make a bride's outfit for Aimee because of the phone call from Unagi, wait until night when the Low Tide is most likely to be at the jewelry store, then, when the teens get the news from the Pack regarding the Low Tide, Aimee will put on the bridal attire with a pistol (owned by Paige's father) hidden in a leg garter. She will walk towards the groom pretending to have wanted to be married. Then, at the "I do" part, she will instead say "I do not", pull the gun out, and ask the Low Tide regarding the whereabouts of her parents. If they are able to pinpoint the locations of Mr. and Mrs. Castillo either through hints or telling the exact location, Aimee would go to that destination to save her parents while the rest stay and confront the Low Tide, but if they don't… they'll figure that out.

While Aimee liked the plan ideas like everyone else, she hated having to dress like up like a bride and "marry" Toro, like really hated it. However, she begrudgingly went shopping with Maguro, Paige, Nyx, Kani, and Melissa because it's part of the plan. The girls rented a dress, then bought the veil, bouquet, and leg garter. Afterwards, Paige went up to her house, snuck into her parent's room and found the pistol in a box under her parents' bed, so she switched the real pistol with a toy gun, thinking that her parents would never tell the difference. Now, Aimee hid the wedding attire and gun in a huge box so that her older sister will never know.

Returning home, Julia opened the door before her sister could and yelled, "Did you get a phone call from someone?!". Aimee nodded her head, but she was confused about what she meant. Julia shook her head and said, "Aggh, I meant, did you get a phone call about our parents getting kidnapped?". Aimee said, "Yeah. The dude also said that he has planned to marry me with someone around the same night he and his buddies rob a jewelry store.".

Julia was absolutely confused, and this prompted her to ask her sister, "Wait, you're getting married? At sixteen? Also, jewelry store robbery? What the heck is going oooon?". Aimee had to explain to her sister about the plan she and her friend group have made to defeat the Low Tide. Now, it all made sense to Julia.

The afternoon was difficult as it looks like the Castillo kids have to look out for each other, they have to use and combine their savings and food that's already available to them in order to not starve themselves. The overall amount of money was around $759.56. So, what they did spend a majority of the money on? Well, mostly on food from a nearby 7-Eleven, some groceries, and a 12 piece KFC bucket meal. Once Aimee had her share of the KFC meal, she took some chips, some chocolate candies, and a bottle of soda upstairs to her room and went on her laptop. She opened up Internet Explorer, and went on DeviantArt to check up with Paige. While they PM'd each other, Paige revealed that her parents don't know what happened to the gun, but didn't notice either. Aimee found it both impressive and amusing at the same time, Paige too found it impressive and amusing. After her chat with Paige, she went onto MySpace to chat with both Ryan and Alex. Her chat with Alex was both plan stuff and them reminiscing on their middle school video game forum days, not knowing each other in person until high school. "Good times man," Alex typed in a private message, "good times.". While for the chat with Ryan, it was a casual one with posting links to YouTube videos and laughing about how stupid the concept of marriage is. It was nice, Aimee needed those chats. Humor, interesting things, and nostalgia rolled into one. When she was finished being social for the day, she closed both the DeviantArt and MySpace tabs, opened up another YouTube page and started looking for deadmau5 and rave techno music videos to listen to while she searched up some random text memes she found "relatable".

Hours later, Aimee realized that the sun was already setting and her laptop is almost dying. She plugged the charger into her laptop, closed it, and went downstairs to make herself dinner. Said dinner was canned chicken noodle soup and microwavable popcorn. A weird combination but she didn't care, as long as it fills up her belly for the mission tonight, she's fine. Her laptop charged up to about 98%. Not really 100% but good enough for her. She shut down her laptop for the night, placing it on a desk in her room, and laid on her bed until her friends come along with her cell phone near her pillow.


	7. Chapter 7: First Defeat for the Low Tide

As Aimee laid down on her bed thinking about the plan, her phone made a "ding!" noise, Aimee sat up and saw that there was a text message from Nyx. It said, "It's time. We're here. Go outside. P.S. take da box w/ u.". Aimee got out of her bed, picked up the box with the bridal attire and the pistol, went outside to the front of the house where she saw Melissa's truck which now has a camping trailer and a weird spaceship of sort behind them.

"What's all this?" Aimee asked Melissa, who in respond said, "Oh, you see, I asked for my parents' permission to use the camping trailer, they wondered why and I told it was to my friends on a trip, which is sort of true, but in reality, it's for you to have a place to get dressed without having people, especially Ryan and Alex see your naked body as put on your bride disguise. Paige and Nyx will help you put the dress and veil on. Just get in the trailer and we'll go.". Aimee nodded her head and went inside the trailer. Of course, Paige and Nyx were in there. As she got in, Aimee placed the box down getting the dress, the veil, leg garter, bouquet, and of course, the gun out from the box one by one. "Ugh," Nyx moaned, "Why is everything white? So boring and tasteless, if I ever get married, I want my dress BLACK, like my soul.". Aimee jokingly asked her, "Is it because you're goth?". Nyx shrugged and replied, "Well, you're not wrong.". Paige started to laugh hysterically. Now, Aimee began to take off her clothes. First her sneakers and socks, then her black jeans, a band tee, and finally, a long-sleeved striped shirt.

Nyx helped Aimee out with putting on the dress and placing the veil on Aimee's head. Paige, although told to look away, had shown difficulties by occasionally turning her head around, looking at Aimee's body. Nyx caught her once and asked her, "What are you doing? Are you gay? Not like there's anything wrong with that.", Paige denied the claim by listing all of the male crushes that she has, Nyx made a smirk, rolled her eyes, and resumed helping Aimee with her wedding clothes. With the leg garter, Aimee laid down on the floor, lifted up the skirt part of her dress, and slid the garter up to her thigh with Nyx putting the pistol in the garter. Voila! Aimee's ready for her part of the rescue/defeating the Low Tide mission. Aimee sat down on a couch with the bouquet in both hands. Nyx didn't realized that Aimee was barefoot until she looked at her feet, she was initially mad at herself but according to Aimee, she didn't mind walking around with bare feet.

Thirty minutes later, they finally reached the Jewelers of the South Pacific jewelry store. "It's your moment now Aimee," Nyx said, "get out there and don't act or look suspicious, capiche?". Aimee nodded her head and walked out the trailer with Paige opening the door for her. Slowly but surely, Aimee approached the door to the jewelry store only to see that no one is there. "Are you KIDDING me?!" Aimee shouted and went on a rant how she have some stupid wedding dress and it was all for nothing. She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry. Nyx came out of the trailer to see what the heck was wrong. "You alright there?" she asked her dear friend, Aimee repeated her rant to Nyx, she shook her head and gave her a hug. "I'm so sorry to hear." said Nyx, feeling just as angry as her. This made Nyx walk towards Ryan (who was chilling in the back with Alex). "What's up, Nyx?" he asked her, she prompted him to ask Tako if something's going on. Ryan nodded his head, leaned to his walky-talky and said, "Ryan to Tako, can you hear me?". Tako confirmed that he can. Ryan then asked Tako about the whereabouts of the Low Tide and why they haven't shown up yet. Tako sighed, "I hate to say this but," then he paused for a bit, "this could or may be, a trap made by them.". "Oh shit." Ryan faintly whispered.

Out of the blue, an airplane could be heard, but it wasn't an airplane, it was a ship shaped like a cuttlefish. A search light lit up and scanned the area below, and it quickly pointed at Aimee. "Well Aimee," a voice from the speakers said, "isn't it nice that you're here? Your groom is finally ready for the ceremony.". Aimee groaned and grabbed the bouquet tightly. The cuttlefish ship landed the ground and opened to reveal Toro wearing a tux, looking really, really annoyed, he is shown to be arguing with Fugu and Unagi. It seemed that he didn't want to do the wedding thing either. He approached Aimee, pretending to smile and look happy, same thing happened with Aimee, she too pretended to look happy. They walked to each other, Toro lifted her up, and this prompted Aimee to sneak her hand up her skirt, searching for the pistol.

"What are you doing?" Toro asked her, all Aimee did was say, "Ending this bullshit while I still can.", and she grabbed the gun out, causing the garter to slip off from her leg. Shocked, Unagi rushed and yelled, "Where did you get the gun young lady?! This is your wedding!". Aimee decided to beat the bush, pointed the pistol at Unagi's face, and asked him coldly, "Where are my parents? What did you do to them?". Unagi didn't say anything, shifted his eyes around, and looked really nervous.

"I said where are they? Give me answers NOW!" Aimee shouted, Unagi made a yelp when she pointed the gun at him again. "Uhh… uhh… I don't… know?" Unagi spoke, Aimee gave up dealing with him and walked towards Fugu with the gun in her hand, he asked her, "Is this about your parents?". Aimee nodded her head, not saying a single word. Fugu started to freak out as his ex-colleague slowly went closer, and closer, and closer…

Fugu squeaked, "Alright, alright, don't shoot me!", Aimee raised an eyebrow. He cleared his throat and explained, "I will give you a riddle as a clue that you need to solve, okay? Here goes… You can store things in here. Towers of boxes and crates build a city that has no population. A city of boxes under a larger box. What am I?". Aimee had to think for a moment with the music from Jeopardy playing in her head as she thought. Suddenly, something came to her and she piped up what she thought is the answer, "A warehouse!". Fugu snapped his fingers, pointed them at her, and shouted, "Bingo! Yes, that is the answer, an abandoned one! Also, please don't call the cops!". Aimee "thanked" him, ran to Melissa and yelled, "Let's go to the port!". Melissa was confused but went with it. Aimee hurried her way inside the trailer and put her normal clothes back on, which was a relief to her.

A while later, Melissa reached to the port, Aimee started searching around the various warehouses, and she sent a text message to her dad, about which one he and her mother are in. Nothing helpful but said that he remembers seeing three blue boxes. Ah. A clue. Aimee gets in contact with the Sushi Pack who use a light to help her find her parents. She followed the light in hopes that she can find her beloved mom and dad. Then, the light shows three blue boxes, the ones her dad described, and found that the door is left open. "Mom? Dad? Where are you?" Aimee called into the darkness, her parents began to call out her name, following her voice through the pitch black void. Her parents saw a body with light behind them, they figured that it's her and rushed to give her a hug. "Oh Aimee!" her mother cried out, and her father apologized for not believing her initially. Aimee told her friends that she'll call the cops on the Legion of Low Tide for committing a mass murder, attempting robbery and kidnapping.

However, it turns out that the Sushi Pack already took care of them and reported them to the police station. Aimee was relieved to have her parents back and she knew that she doesn't have to put up with the Legion of Low Tide anymore. Of course, she still has go to school, but Aimee understood and her parents promised to get her home early if the chance comes along.

* * *

In U.S. History (Aimee's second period class), Aimee was in the middle of a lesson on the Gilded Age, and the start of the monopolies made by Rockefeller and Carnegie. Out of nowhere, the intercom went off and announced, "Aimee Castillo, Alexis Miller, Janet Murasaki, Paige Sanderson, Ryan Smith, and Melissa Weber please report to the front office, immediately.". Aimee got up from her seat with all of her classmates looking at her with faces showing both fear and awe at the same time. She walked from the 500s hallway down to the front alongside her friends who came from different hallways. While they walked to the front office, Alex asked, "Wait, who's Janet?". Nyx revealed to Alex that Janet is her real name, but prefers to go by Nyx. "No way," Paige muttered, "you definitely do not look like a Janet.", Nyx snickered.

At the front office, the woman at the front office said that the crew from the Channel 5 News have arrived and wanted to interview them.

The teens went outside, and they saw the news anchorwoman, Sophia Tucker and camera people behind her. Sophia announced that she's currently outside of Wharf City High School with the "the teens who helped the Sushi Pack become a beloved group of superheroes". None of the teens really liked having that title, but didn't mind being interviewed. One by one, they got interviewed. Stuff like the history of their interactions with both the Sushi Pack and Legion of Low Tide, Aimee's history with the Low Tide, Alex's 15th birthday which happened almost two months ago, and Ryan's mass murder witness.

After what felt like hours later, the interviews were over and they can go to lunch, meaning they've missed their third and fourth periods. Thankfully, none of those periods were planning on a quiz or test.

Days later, Nyx, Alex, Ryan, and the others began to earn attention and had the reputation of being the kids that were on the news, and some kids wanted to be their friends. While it indeed felt nice to receive attention, they decided not to make a huge deal about their new-found popularity.

After school, Alex has informed his friends through a text message that his older brother, Ben is letting the Sushi Pack live in his workplace, the Green Donut. It was just some nice news Alex wanted to share.


	8. Chapter 8: Ten Years Later

The year is now 2017, ten years after Ryan and his friends helped the Sushi Pack become the heroes and saviors of Wharf City. He managed to contact his old high school buddies again via the Facebook and Twitter private messaging systems.

He found that Janet no longer goes by Nyx anymore as it reminded her of the goth phase she went through in a majority of her high school years, and to quote Janet in a message, "it was a mess, an embarrassingly long mess of hatred towards the world and angst". Ryan laughed, understanding her a lot. He requested that she and the others should meet up at the St. George Natural Area. Janet was all up for meeting up with the others again as she hasn't seen any of them for years now.

Then, he found Paige, who is now a storyboard artist at an animation studio. Ryan typed a simple hello, which caught her attention. "Who's this? Ryan Smith… Why does that sound so oddly familiar?" Paige said, writing back to Ryan's message. He brought up if she remembers hanging out with him in high school, and he brought up the Sushi Pack. "Oh my God! Yes, I remember hanging out with you a lot back then," Paige typed, "*sigh* the years have gone by so fast it almost felt like an entire week.". Ryan then asked if she wanted to go to the St. George Natural Area, which excited her.

The same exact thing also happened with both Melissa and Aimee. Both of them also wanted to go. Finally, Ryan found Alex, who is currently working on a series of graphic novels. Ryan wrote to him, "Happy being a quarter to a hundred!". Unfortunately, Ryan was a week late to Alex's 25th birthday. Ryan apologized and said that they should meet up again, to which Alex didn't mind doing.

Later, Ryan took a bus to the location he requested his old buddies to arrive at. The first person he spotted was Alex, who still looked as nerdy as he did in high school but looked more professional in a way. "Whoa, Ryan! It's so good to see you! The gang are waiting for you, follow me!" Alex said as he tugged on Ryan's right arm and ran as swiftly as his legs would let him. At the area surrounded by benches, that is where Alex took him and it seems that everyone Ryan messaged were here too. He was surprised that everyone looked different, especially Janet, Paige, and Aimee as they've dropped their goth, emo, and scene phases respectively. "Wow, y'all changed so much," he spoke, "maybe it's for the better.". They agreed with him. They talked about the memories from high school until the topic suddenly switches to the Sushi Pack. "I remember those guys! Weren't the heroes of this town?" Aimee said, suddenly remembering their existence. This began triggering many, many memories they've thought they have forgotten about. "Hey Aimee," Melissa asked her, "Remember that sushi restaurant you loved going to until you found out that the people working there were a bunch of criminals?". Aimee knew who and what she was talking about, but didn't want to look back at those moments, they were the closest to having traumatic memories for her.

Minutes later, they decided to go to the Fujiyama Sushi restaurant to see if it's still there or if it has closed down. Ryan decided to take his old friends to the restaurant. It was a rather short drive, but I felt like an hour. The restaurant was no longer a restaurant, but instead an empty building with the lights off and a sign saying, "For Lease", and included a phone number. "Aw man," Ryan said, "I wanted to punch those dickheads in their faces for tormenting us ten years ago.". Aimee agreed, having to have endured the worst of the torment, with her being a victim to constant manipulation, bribery, and lying.

Out of nowhere, Aimee found a key at the bottom of her feet, she asked, "Hey umm… I found this key, do you think it'll work on the building?", Janet made an argument to her statement, "Wait, isn't that breaking and entering?". The gang looked around to make sure that no one is either around nor watching them. So, Aimee placed the key into the hole, turned it 90º, and that made the door magically open on its own. "Holy shit! Did the door just…?" Alex muttered, Paige looked at him and shook her head up and down. They entered the empty former-restaurant, quietly. As they walked around the building, some of the things seen included, but possibly not limited, upside down chairs on top of the tables, decorations like cat statues and plants were missing, and not even a person in sight. "Wow, they really cleaned up the place, didn't they?" Aimee said, which Ryan agreed with her. As Aimee wandered around the dining area of the restaurant, she heard wind blowing and voice calling to her, "Aimee… Aimee… Is that you?". She followed the voice to one of the booth tables.

There, she saw a familiar sight, a person she knew from the past, it was Toro, but he looked ghostly and about to fade away any second now. "Aimee, is that you?" Toro said again, repeating himself. Aimee confirmed that it was her, Toro was very surprised, as he haven't seen her for such a long time. Aimee ran to him, she was happy to see him again as he was the only Low Tide member she had any respect for. "You look so different, what happened to you?" Aimee asked him, he explained that four years ago, he had an unsolved medical problem which lead to the end of his life. The only things he could remember about his death was seeing a light and an angelic figure known as "the Angel of Death" talking to him.

Aimee didn't know that he died, she wanted to cry and hug him, Toro held her and comforted her.

After, she asked if he knew about what happened to the other members of the Legion of Low Tide, unfortunately, he doesn't what happened to them.

Aimee thanked him for spending time with her, and said goodbye to him. "Who the heck were you talking to?" Paige asked her, all Aimee said to her in a whisper, "Ghosts are real.". "The fuck?" Paige whispered back, but Aimee told her to just forget it. Ryan then found the kitchen, which smelled like dead fish, rotting eggs, and mold. "Ugh, that is SO fucking gross," Melissa moaned in disgust, "Can't they just mask the awful smells with some Febreze for something?". The adults all resorted to pinching their noses. As they "toured" the kitchen, and when they reached to the another door, the one that was exclusive to the members of the Low Tide. However, the door is barracked with two planks of wood.

Which was good, but curiosity consumed them. So, they figured they'll come back tomorrow with a remote-controlled car with a surveillance camera that came with an app.

The next day, the adults came back to the former restaurant with the car and Paige had the Carlo Go camera and the official app in her wePhone 7, the camera has been set on top of the car and off it goes, and from they've seen, the underground headquarters looks to be abandoned, like if no one has not visited or in the place for months, if not years. With all of that out of the way, they have done enough research and the Legion of Low Tide are no longer a problem, let alone hanging around in Wharf City anymore. The current whereabouts of the Low Tide are unknown with the exception of Toro who has sadly passed, but wasn't forgotten about as one afternoon, Alex found his four year old son, Tony talking to a person called "Toro" and claimed that he found himself a guardian angel. Alex found this both amusing and an idea for a future graphic novel to write and illustrate.


End file.
